Feticipi Fetichism, or Fetishism (Port, fei-tigao, magic; perhaps connected with the Lat. fascinum, a bewitching), the religious worship of material things (fetiches) as the abodes of spirits. It is the lowest of the forms of worship found among uncivilized tribes, and exists especially among the negroes in Africa. There are two kinds of fetiches, natural and artificial. Among the former are celebrated rocks, particularly high mountain peaks where the lightning is supposed to dwell; single trees, and more frequently whole forests; many animals, as serpents, one of which has its own temple, where the snakes are kept by priestesses; snails, crocodiles (with the Ashantees), goats, sheep, etc. Usefulness and hurtfulness seem to have often dictated their selection, but not always. Artificial fetiches are either public, preserved by priests, or private, purchasable from them usually at a very high price. Kings and princes have large collections of fetiches, and every family has at least one. They are hereditary, and either hung up in the dwellings or worn on the neck or elsewhere, and even fastened on domestic animals. Ocea-sionallv they are made in rude imitation of the human form, and the public fetiches are sometimes of gold and very large.

The worshippers provide their fetiches liberally with food, but if their prayers are not granted they frequently throw them away, or beat them to pieces. They have also festivals and sacrifices. For the latter the victims are oxen, swine, and other animals; but sometimes criminals, prisoners, or persons of the lowest classes of the tribe are immolated. The festivals are generally attended by excess in drinking, thefts, fights, and gross licentiousness. The priests form a separate society, with hereditary dignity, property, and privileges. They have in particular the right of retaining the slaves who come to them, or, as they call it, present their bodies to the fetich. The limits of the term fetichism are yet unsettled, as some exclude from it the worship of forests, mountains, rivers, etc., and all such as are made to resemble the human form.